Saturday, March 28, 2009

Gym...check--wanted to do my long run this morning, but this smelly guy came in around mile 3 and I couldn't hack it.

Study group....check--great to see my friends, catch up, study, and realize that we are all in the same boat.

Baby shower present...check--why are baby things so expensive?

Cats overfed...check--My friend Mel is at a conference and asked me to overfeed her cats. While she was gone over Christmas I thought I was supposed to give them two cans of food each. Not so apparently. No wonder the litterbox was always full.

Waiting to go to baby shower so I still have to wrap the presents. I am not artistic so I dread trying to make my gift look like something other than what the cat dragged in. I'm hoping that Gunner will help me out there.

The girls were dropped off with my mom, and Gunner even made an additional round trip so that Abs would have her medicine.

.....Home from the baby shower. Junior found a snake on a walk with Gunner. It was small and squished and he wanted to save it to show me. A sign of what is to come? At least it was dead.

I was going to go back to the gym this evening and they closed at 8. Do they think everyone in Killeen goes out or something? I was looking forward to another run, a swim, and a trip to the sauna. Instead Abbey and I have scheduled a trip tomorrow. I guess I can have an exciting evening of grading papers, putting together centers, entering grades and doing laundry. I do have a couple of movies that I want to watch with Gunner, so I guess we'll fit that in somewhere.

Night 1 of Junior in his Thomas bed went well, but so far night two isn't going as well. One more week till the serious potty training adventure begins!

Friday, March 27, 2009

The weekend is finally here. It is starting to get cold, of course, and so my Army 10-miler training run tomorrow was canceled. I haven't been to one yet, so I am feeling guilty. The signup is on the 1st of April, and I want to go, but if am not at Fort Hood anymore, then I won't have anyone to go with. Decisions, decisions.

I will hit the gym tomorrow though with my friend Abbey. That is, assuming, she will go back with me after I worked her today. She was a trooper and did awesome! I think the word slave driver or was it drill sgt only came out of her mouth once.

I took off half the day today and slept. Gunner said that he heard orders were cut and we should be receiving them soon? Let's hope! I'm ready to get this ball rolling, if it's going to roll, or make plans accordingly if it is not. One of my bestest friends in the entire world is in Denver, so I can't wait till we get there to see him! (Hi Dave!) He has no kids, so I am thinking he might have to visit me so three kids won't be as overwhelming in his house with his Schnoodle.

We made the jump and Junior has been moved to his Thomas the Tank Engine bed (tonight's the first night). Gunner's parents bought it for him, but it was missing the bottom part, so the mattress was slipping. Gunner solved it by using the bottom of the crib, but that leaves us with a crib with no bottom, which won't do anyone any good. I guess someone could order the part, if I could remember who made the crib. If not, I guess it will be out with the trash next week. It served three kids, so we definitely got our money's worth out of it. Maybe the move to the big boy bed will alleviate him stripping and escaping? One can hope!

When I was growing up I always wanted Wonder Woman underoos. I don't think they even make them for girls anymore, but I picked up a pair of Batman ones for Junior the other day. I can't wait to give them to him for his birthday. I told my sister about them and she had always wanted them too. LOL At least it wasn't just me!

I have a study session tomorrow, the gym, a baby shower, cleaning, more studying, papers to grade, and a million other things on the schedule. How much longer till summer vacation???

Thursday, March 26, 2009

I am taking half a day off tomorrow and I can't wait. I can't decide between napping or doing something more constructive. I asked Gunner if he got off early if he would want to go for a run or a bike ride. Hearing those words, he told me he might be working late. Am I wearing him out?

I hit the gym tonight and while talking to a fellow teacher I did 40 minutes on the stairmaster. Then I ran two miles, and hit the weights. I ended with a stint in the sauna and returned home to three kids in bed.

I kissed the kids and then redressed naked Junior while talking to my sister. We cannot keep clothes on the boy. Even a sleeper on backwards is no match for Junior Houdini. He doesn't even unzip it, so no telling how we can keep him dressed.

I've recruited 5 other teachers to do the 10K with us on the 11th. Good times I tell ya!

Wednesday, March 25, 2009

The canvas company that I ordered that great picture of Junior from is having their Operation Hi Mom! event. If your Soldier is deployed they can submit a picture to Canvas on Demand and they will create 500 canvases to send to Mom! If there are more than 500 pictures submitted they will randomly select Soldiers to qualify. They have a great product, and hey, it's free! Make sure you take advantage of it. I have had three pictures done through them and their customer service is impeccable and the product is unbelievable. Good luck!

How can we not love her? I went and bought presents tonight, and after I had asked her what she wanted, to which she replied each time that she had no clue, she presented me with a list:1. Paint and art kits2. Stuffed dinos or cat (at least 1 or 2)3. Drum Set4. I can't read this item5. Harp with pick6. Wii7. Nintendo DS8. Pool table9. Foosball table10. Fly pen with games and notebook11. Pony (a mustang)

She is getting a stuffed dinosaur, some art supplies, a doorbell for her room, a safe activated by her voice, and a bunch of other stuff. I love birthdays, especially when the birthday girl is as cute and as spirited as this one!

Happy Birthday Abs, congratulations on both of us surviving year 7!

And thanks to Brandi at Excess Baggage for my new blog! She's great and I love it!!!

Monday, March 23, 2009

As if a 5k on the 14th wasn't enough, there was the 21 mile bike ride, then fishing, then Erin & Scout and I headed off on a couple of adventures.

Saturday we hit the Urban Dare in Austin. When we got the clue sheet, we were stumped. We were calling, emailing, searching, and running....sometimes in circles. We learned that we needed to spend more time planning our route next time. Oh well, we got good exercise. I plotted our course on mapmyrun.com and we were over 10 miles, but I forgot to add in that we parked at one end of 6th street and had to hike through the massive amount of people there for concerts, to the other end. Add that distance in and we were well over 12 miles. Talk about tired.

Before the race:Scout, Erin and me.These were taken before the race, when we were full of energy and sure that we were going to win big!

At Mellow Johnny's...By the end of the race we were exhausted. What better way to finish the day by saying "See you in the morning for the 5K that we are going to run!". Gunner and I could barely talk at dinner we were so tired. We hit Johnny Carino's, and were amazed that there were only 4 dishes that were low fat. The waitress looked at me like I was insane when I asked if they had any fat free dressing.

Insanity. We arrived bright and early at the Run 4 the Rovers 5K on Sunday. This year I brought Junior along. He winked:He ate, and he drove, while Gunner ran.Gunner and I got separated, but I did run the entire way, even in my sore state. I got back and tried to find out my official time and wouldn't you know that when Gunner and I both took off our timer didn't register??? How do you prevent that from happening? All four of us finished, and after the day before, that was all I think we were looking for!

I worked, Gunner took the kids fishing, and we shuffled around the house in our sore state.

I was back at my teaching job today, and hit the gym afterwards. Without having to worry about childcare, it's nice. I got in 30 minutes on the stairmaster, a quick 1 mile run just to loosen up, and hit the weights. The highlight of every workout is the sauna, but I was devastated when I went back to find it broken.

One thing I did discover during all this working out/races/togetherness with Gunner is that we do not have the same taste in workout music. I cannot run to the beating of Metallica in my ear followed by someotherbandwithanameIhaveneverheardof screeching out another "song". So now I am on the quest to makeup my own playlist of running/weightlifting/cycling/sauna music. If anyone has any favorites please let me know as I am not up on music at all, I just know I don't like Gunner's "Play it Loud" playlist, sorry!

About Me

We have survived four year long deployments--one to Bosnia and three to Iraq. We have been married for almost 17 years and have three children--Em, Abs, and Junior. Gunner is currently deployed for the 5th time to Afghanistan. We are fast approaching the year mark, and then we will focus on the prize--retirement!